After UN acts, NKorea vows to beef up nukes SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea swiftly lashed out against the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of its December launch of a long-range rocket, saying Wednesday that it will strengthen its military defenses — including its nuclear weaponry — in response. The defiant statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry was issued hours after the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s Dec. 12 rocket launch as ...

Netanyahu narrowly wins Israeli election JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-line allies fared far worse than expected in a parliamentary election Tuesday, likely forcing him to reach across the aisle to court a popular political newcomer to cobble together a new coalition. While Netanyahu appeared positioned to serve a third term as prime minister, the results marked a major setback for his policies and could force him to make new concessions to restart l...

US begins transporting French troops to Mali SEGOU, Mali (AP) — American planes transported French troops and equipment to Mali, a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday, as Malian and French forces pushed into the Islamist-held north. The town of Douentza had been held by Islamist rebels for four months, located 195 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Mopti, the previous line-of-control held by the Malian military in Mali’s narrow central belt. The Islamist fighters have controlled the va...

Russia starts evacuating nationals from Syria MASNAA, Lebanon (AP) — Key Syrian ally Russia began evacuating its citizens from the country on Tuesday as the civil war gathered momentum in the capital Damascus with intense fighting around the international airport. The evacuation was the strongest sign yet of Moscow’s waning confidence in the ability of its ally President Bashar Assad to hold onto power. The U.N. chief said Tuesday that a diplomatic conclusion to the war seems unlikely. U....

Algeria: 32 militants killed, with 23 hostages ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — In a bloody finale, Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said. With few details emerging from the remote site in eastern Algeria, it was unclear whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on...

Rare Scotch returned to Antarctic stashSCOTTBASE, Antarctica (AP) - Talk about whisky on ice: Three bottles of rare, 19th century Scotch found beneath the floor boards of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton's abandoned expedition base were returned to the polar continent Saturday after a distiller flew them to Scotland to recreate the long-lost recipe. But not even New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who personally returned the stash, got a taste of the contents of the bottles of...

Algerian army takes hard line in militant battle ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — The militants had filled five jeeps with hostages and begun to move when Algerian government attack helicopters opened up on them, leaving four in smoking ruins. The fifth vehicle crashed, allowing an Irish hostage inside to clamber out to safety with an explosive belt still strapped around his neck. Three days into the crisis at a natural gas plant deep in the Sahara, it remained unclear how many had perished in the fa...

China’s growth rebounds but still vulnerable BEIJING (AP) — China’s economy is finally rebounding from its deepest slump since the 2008 global crisis but the shaky recovery could be vulnerable to a new downturn in global trade. Growth rose to 7.9 percent in the three months ending in December, up from the previous quarter’s 7.4 percent data showed Friday. For the year, the economy grew by 7.8 percent, which was China’s weakest annual performance since the 1990s. Retail spending and facto...

Aleppo blast, car bombs cap bloody Syria week BEIRUT (AP) — A rocket slammed into a building in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo and two suicide bombers struck near a mosque in the south Friday, capping a particularly bloody week in the country’s civil war with more than 800 civilians killed, including an unusually large proportion in government-held areas. The residential building struck in Aleppo was in a part of the city controlled by regime forces, as was a university hit earlier in th...

Polite British vandal guilty of damaging cars LONDON (AP) — A British professor who specializes in cities and urban life has been convicted of damaging luxury cars with graffiti that was surprisingly polite. Stephen Graham was found guilty Friday of using a screwdriver to scrawl inoffensive words such as “very silly,” “really wrong” and “arbitrary” into the paintwork of vehicles including a Mercedes, an Audi, and a Volvo. Prosecutors said the spree caused 18,000 pounds ($29,000) in damage...

With Olympics in mind, Rio’s love hotels clean up RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — One worker strips mirrored paneling off the ceiling, as another pries up the fiberglass shell of a whirlpool bath. A third man takes a sledgehammer to a life-size statue of Venus de Milo posing topless with a swirl of plaster robes hanging from her waist. The Shalimar love hotel is going family-friendly. Like about a third of the city’s 180 hotels that rent rooms by the hour, mostly for amorous rendezvous, the Shalimar is...

2 dead, 13 hurt after helicopter crashes in London LONDON (AP) — A helicopter crashed into a crane and fell on a crowded street in central London during rush hour Wednesday, sending flames and black plumes of smoke into the air. The pilot and one person on the ground were killed and 13 others injured, officials said. The helicopter crashed in misty weather just south of the River Thames near the Underground and mainline train station at Vauxhall, and close to the headquarters of spy agency MI6...

Pakistanis protest killing of 15 in village raid PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Several thousand protesters shouting anti-military slogans displayed the bodies of 15 local villagers in northwestern Pakistan, claiming they were shot dead in their homes by security forces in an overnight raid. Hours later, police dispersed the protesters using water cannons and tear gas. The outcry came as thousands of supporters of a fiery Muslim cleric continued their anti-government protest for a third day in Is...

Egypt’s Morsi tries to defuse flap over Jews slur CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Islamist president sought Wednesday to defuse Washington’s anger over his past remarks urging hatred of Jews and calling Zionists “pigs” and “bloodsuckers,” telling visiting U.S. senators that his comments were a denunciation of Israeli policies. Both sides appear to want to get beyond the flap: Mohammed Morsi needs America’s help in repairing a rapidly sliding economy, and Washington can’t afford to shun a figure who has ...

10 Things to Know for Monday, Jan. 14, 2013Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday: 1. THE LATEST TURN THAT COULD STIR UPHEAVAL IN EGYPT An appeals court overturns Mubarak's life sentence and orders retrial of the ousted leader in killings of hundreds of protesters. 2. "ARGO" ''LES MISERABLES" HAVE BIG NIGHTS AT GOLDEN GLOBES The films were named best drama and best comedy/musical and Ben Affleck won for directing "Argo." ...

Bombings kill 115 people in Pakistan QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A series of bombings killed 115 people across Pakistan on Thursday, including 81 who died in twin blasts on a bustling billiards hall in a Shiite area of the southwestern city of Quetta. Pakistan’s minority Shiite Muslims have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and a militant Sunni group claimed responsibility for Thursday’s deadliest attack — sending a suicide bomber into the packe...

Mali seeks French help against extremists UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Mali’s president asked France for help Thursday to counter an offensive by extremist and terrorist groups who control the northern half of the country and are heading south. France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters after an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that urgent action is needed against the groups who captured the city of Konna Thursday and are now threatening the city of Mopti, which has 1...

Ex-Gitmo inmates: Bin Laden movie excuses torture LONDON (AP) — Two former Guantanamo detainees on Thursday condemned “Zero Dark Thirty,” a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden whose brutal interrogation scenes have sparked a discussion over the use of extreme methods in the U.S. campaign against terror. Speaking at an event in London on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. prison camp in eastern Cuba, the pair said the film was an attempt to rehabilitate those guilty...

Venezuela holds symbolic inauguration for Chavez CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Nothing shows the extent of Hugo Chavez’s grip on power quite as clearly as his absence from his own inauguration Thursday. Venezuela gathered foreign allies and tens of thousands of exuberant supporters to celebrate a new term for a leader too ill to return home for a real swearing-in. In many ways, it looked like the sort of rally the president has staged dozens of times throughout his 14 years in power: The leader’...

Officials: Possible 5th killing by Mexico dog pack MEXICO CITY (AP) — A 15-year-old girl found fatally bitten by dogs outside a Mexico City park in mid-December may have been the first victim of a feral pack suspected of killing at least four other people over the last month, prosecutors said Wednesday. Authorities began capturing dogs in the park this week after a mother and her infant boy were found dead and covered in dog bites on Dec. 29 and the bodies of a teenage couple were found covere...